COVERTRADE SERVICES
Pizza Shop Insurance
Tailored insurance packages for your pizza takeaway business.
Pizza Is A Delivery Business With An Oven Attached
Most pizza shops take more of their money off the premises than over the counter, which makes the road the biggest exposure on the policy, and the one a shop insurance quote does not cover at all.
Pizza runs more drivers, more miles and more late hours than almost any other takeaway. That means hire and reward motor cover sitting alongside the shop policy, and it means checking that drivers using their own vehicles actually hold it. A great many do not, and most of them do not know.
The oven is the other half. Deck, conveyor and wood-fired ovens are rated differently, and a wood-fired oven in particular needs declaring properly. The sections below cover both, along with the things every food shop needs.
Our Insurance Covers Include
Property Insurance
Safeguard your pizza takeaway establishment, including the building, fixtures, and fittings, against risks like fire, theft, vandalism, and natural disasters.
Contents Insurance
Protect valuable assets such as kitchen equipment, furniture, stock, and inventory from damage, theft, or loss.
Liability Insurance
Shield your business from third-party claims for bodily injury, property damage, or product-related issues with our public liability coverage, extending to product liability for customer safety.
Business Interruption Insurance
Receive financial support during unexpected events like fires or floods that temporarily halt operations, covering lost income and ongoing expenses until normal business resumes.
Employer's Liability Insurance
Fulfill legal obligations and safeguard your employees against work-related injuries or illnesses with this essential coverage.
How Much Is Pizza Shop Insurance?
Across the takeaways we place, premiums start at around £441 a year. A pizza shop sits above that once it is busy.
Delivery is what tends to push a pizza shop toward the upper end, more drivers, more miles and more hours on the road than a counter-led takeaway. And that is before the motor cover, which is priced separately and is not included in these figures.
Turnover, the value of contents and stock, whether you own the building, opening hours and your claims record account for the rest.
These are premiums arranged for other takeaways and are not a quote. Call 02382 000820 and we will go to the market for you.
Ovens: Deck, Conveyor And Wood-Fired
Insurers do not treat all pizza ovens the same, and the difference is worth knowing before you fill in a proposal form.
Deck and conveyor ovens are the straightforward case: electric or gas, enclosed, and rated much like any other commercial oven.
Wood-fired ovens are not. A live fire, a flue running at high temperature and fuel stored on the premises make a materially different risk, and insurers ask accordingly: how the flue was installed and what clearance it has to combustible material, where the wood is kept, how ash is disposed of, and how often the flue is swept.
None of that is a reason not to have one. It is a reason to declare it, because an undeclared wood-fired oven is a material fact, and a fire claim arising from one is the worst conversation in this trade.
Check These First
What an underwriter will ask a pizza shop about.
- Oven type, and any wood-fired oven declared
- How many drivers, and whose vehicles
- Drivers’ hire and reward certificates
- Extraction cleaning and flue sweeping
- Mixer guarding and staff training
- Delivery share of turnover
- Flexible payment options
- Dedicated account managers
- Out-of-hours contact should you need to make a claim or just have a question
- A quick and easy, pain-free service
- An excellent customer experience
Extraction Cleaning Is A Policy Condition
This is the condition that decides more takeaway fire claims than anything else, and it is written into most policies rather than being advice. Insurers typically require the full extraction system (canopy, filters, ductwork and fan) to be professionally deep cleaned at set intervals, commonly every six months for heavy cooking, with a certificate to prove it.
Pizza ovens produce less airborne grease than fryers or woks, so intervals are sometimes longer, but a wood-fired flue brings its own sweeping requirement on top, and the two are not interchangeable. Read what your schedule actually specifies.
Wiping the canopy yourself does not satisfy it. Keep the certificates, note the next due date somewhere you will see it, and make sure the clean covers the whole duct run rather than just the visible parts. A fire claim where the last certificate is out of date is the hardest kind to argue, because the wording is unambiguous and the paperwork is the evidence.
Stock, Freezers And A Quiet Power Cut
Frozen and chilled stock is a claim takeaways make regularly, and it rarely involves anything dramatic: a freezer fails overnight, or the power goes off while the shop is shut, and everything has to be thrown out. Stock deterioration cover, sometimes called refrigerated stock or frozen food cover, is the section that pays for it.
It is worth asking for specifically rather than assuming contents cover responds, because many policies treat it as an optional extension. Check the sum insured against what your freezers actually hold at their fullest, and read the conditions. Some require the equipment to be under a maintenance contract or below a certain age, which is exactly the sort of clause that turns a straightforward claim into an argument.
Delivery Drivers And Hire And Reward
This is the section that matters most for a pizza shop, because delivery is usually the larger half of the business and it is entirely outside the shop policy.
Carrying goods for payment needs hire and reward cover on the vehicle. An ordinary social, domestic and pleasure policy does not extend to it, and neither does standard business use. Driving without it is an offence rather than simply an uninsured loss, and it is the driver who is prosecuted.
If drivers use their own mopeds or cars, you need to see their certificate and check it says hire and reward. A surprising number do not, and the driver often does not know. Vehicles you own yourself need it just the same. Either way, your public liability does not cover a road accident, and your products liability should extend to food once it has left the shop.
What We Need To Quote
Annual turnover and the split between counter and delivery, your opening hours, the rebuild cost if you own the building and the value of contents, equipment and stock, how many staff you employ, whether you deliver and with whose vehicles, the type of oven and whether any of it is wood-fired, your extraction cleaning arrangements, and any claims in the last five years.
Protect Your Pizza Shop
So why wait? Protect your pizza shop today with CoverTrade's comprehensive insurance coverage. Contact us now to schedule a consultation with one of our expert advisors.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
Common questions
How much is pizza shop insurance?+
Across the takeaways we place, premiums start at around £441 a year, and a pizza shop sits in that range. Delivery is what tends to push a pizza shop toward the upper end: more drivers, more miles and more hours on the road than most takeaways. Turnover, contents and stock values, whether you own the building, your opening hours and your claims record do the rest.
Are my delivery drivers covered by my shop insurance?+
No. Carrying food for payment needs hire and reward cover on the vehicle, and neither a private policy nor ordinary business use extends to it. Driving without it is an offence and it is the driver who is prosecuted. If drivers use their own mopeds or cars, ask to see a certificate that specifically says hire and reward. Many do not have it and do not realise. Vehicles you own yourself need it just the same.
Does my policy cover a wood-fired oven?+
Usually yes, but it must be declared, and insurers ask more questions about it than about a standard deck oven. A wood-fired oven means a live fire, a flue that gets very hot, and fuel stored on the premises, so expect questions about the flue installation and its clearances, how and where wood is stored, and your cleaning intervals. An undeclared wood-fired oven is a material fact and a serious problem at claim time.
What insurance does a pizza shop need?+
Public and products liability, the second covering food-related illness and allergen claims. Employers' liability once you employ anyone, including delivery drivers who are your employees. Contents and equipment including ovens, mixers and refrigeration. Stock. Business interruption. Buildings if you own the premises. Money. And hire and reward motor cover for delivery, which is separate from all of the above.
Is my dough mixer covered, and what about injuries?+
The machine itself sits under contents and equipment cover, though mechanical breakdown is usually a separate extension rather than automatic. Injuries are the more important question: a spiral or planetary mixer is a serious piece of machinery and an employee hurt by one is an employers' liability claim. Insurers expect guarding to be in place and working, training recorded, and any interlock that has been bypassed to be put right. A defeated safety guard is very hard to defend.
What happens if my extraction cleaning certificate is out of date?+
A fire claim becomes very difficult. Most policies make professional deep cleaning of the full extraction system a condition of cover rather than a recommendation, and an insurer is entitled to decline where it was not met. Keep the certificates, make sure the clean covers the whole duct run rather than the visible parts, and diarise the next one.
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